I have been in Colombia for a little over a week now. Medellín, the city we are located in, is full of extreme darkness. All I have to do is walk out of the door and immediately be faced with drug abusers and homelessness. There is so much spiritual warfare going on in this city. And to be completely honest it is a lot to take in.
The ministry my squad is partnered with this month is incredible. They are called Ciudad Refugio. The organization is part homeless shelter, drug rehabilitation center, church, and homeschool/daycare center for kids. Ciudad Refugio literally does it all and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work alongside such an incredible ministry. The workers give all of themselves and more to help the city of Medellín. They pour into the lives of people day in and day out. I feel emotionally drained already and I have only been here for one week. The workers do the same thing every day and they never complain. Their hearts are so dedicated to their work and the ministry.
The bottom floor of Ciudad Refugio is a bakery. One day after lunch my team was sitting at a table in the bakery drinking coffee and eating pastries. A homeless man came up to us and asked if we could buy him something to eat or drink. We didn’t have any money, but we offered him the coffee we had bought for ourselves. This led to a deep and extremely intense spiritual conversation. This man, who we later found out was named Christian, was battling some major spiritual warfare and darkness deep inside of him. He kept saying over and over again that he believed God was evil and because so many bad things happen in this world there was no way that a good God could exist. He said that he was offered cocaine by a girl one day which led to his drug addiction which then led to his homelessness. He said that Colombia is a horrible country that “doesn’t do shit for the people.” As Christian was talking I was becoming physically sick. It was so hard to hear him speaking so many lies and harsh realities.
My team and I talked to him for a very long time and the conversation was extremely taxing. He wouldn’t listen to anything we had to say. Finally my teammate Abigail called him out for not listening to us or letting us talk. This led to his finally listening. The Spirit began speaking through me about sin and darkness inside of each one of us and that the world is in fact a broken place, but it’s not a result of a bad God, but because of sin in this world. I told him that God does love us and wants a relationship with us. I was able to share part of my testimony as well. Even though Christian still did not accept anything I said, it was such an eye-opening experience for me. I was able to allow God to speak through me and hopefully plant seeds inside of Christian’s heart. I stepped out in a moment of boldness and spoke out against lies and darkness. I chose to be light in a dark, scary conversation. Even though I have no idea if what I said changed anything within Christian, that conversation changed something inside of me that day.
I now never want to shy away from hard conversations. I never want to not speak up when the Spirit is moving inside of me. I want to be the light in the darkness. I want to be a voice for the voiceless. I want people to know that they are not alone and that the God of the freaking Universe loves them and wants a relationship with them. I will not now or ever stop sharing my heart even when it is extremely difficult. The people of Medellín need Jesus. The people of Colombia need Jesus. The whole world needs Jesus.
